Designed for the rugged riding that surrounds our North Vancouver office, the Rocky Mountain Instinct is a versatile, long travel 29er. No stranger to pushing the limits of what trail bikes are capable of, Wade Simmons sampled the Instinct and came away with a verdict: it’s a contender on a variety of terrain and a ton of fun.

Last carbon Rocky Mountain Altitude I had cracked at the bottom bracket (not from an impact). It was my XC bike and less than a year old. They refused to warranty it. Never again will I ride a Rocky Mountain.

Had chance to take this bike out for a day, and I have say it was a hoot, it is front heavy with the big wheel and not easily flickable, although by the end of the day the wheelies where getting easier, and I think with practice you could learn to pump this bike through the trails (just not as quickly as you might convert to a 650b — also spent time with the Altitude, there's a bike that loves to pop into the air with every roller). But it is a very fun bike and very capable of riding on the AM on the Wet Coast, and great fun on enduro-type trails.

Makes surprisingly tight turns too.

I'd loose the tires though, swap them for some Schwalbe NN or better yet some HD, or a different Conti or Maxxis.

A simple glance at this bike tells me that the rear wheel is going to move towards the seat tube when compressed. The only way to solve this is to make the chainstays longer than ideal geometry dictates. Other designs allow for a proper length chainstays. A specialized enduro 29er has 16.9 inch chainstays by manipulating their fsr design to have a more vertical wheel path, and by curving the seattube. Look at Canfield hardtails. Their nimble 9 has adjustable chainstays as short as 16.25.

@TetonLarry : Yes I had the chance to try some. I like snappy, stiff, short bikes. I've been riding for about 22 years on 26ers for some time, so I do agree I might be a little stuborn. BUT, that being said, 650b seems the way to go for me. I'll start with something like the SC Bronson...